Thursday, 30 January 2014

“Once every so often, and in her
absolute discretion, this goddess would instruct the community through
divination to build a home of images in her honour. The diviner would travel
through the village and knock on the doors of those chosen by Ana for her work.
These chosen people were then blessed and separated from the larger community
in a ritual with more than a passing resemblance to their own death and
funeral. Thereafter, they moved into the forest and, behind and high fence and
under the instruction and supervision of master artists and craftsmen, they
constructed a temple of art.

Architecturally, it was a simple
structure, a stage formed by three high walls supporting a peaked roof; but in
place of a flat floor you had a deck of steps running from one wall to the
other and rising almost to the roof at the back wall. This auditorium was then
filled to the brim with sculptures in molded earth and clay, and the walls
painted with murals in white, black, yellow, and green. The sculptures were
arranged in appropriate postures on the steps. At the centre of the front row
sat the earth goddess herself, a child on her left knee ad a raised sword in
her right hand. She is other and judge.

When all was ready, after months,
or sometimes even years, of preparation, the makers of mbari, who has been working in complete seclusion, sent wod to the
larger community. A day was chosen for the unveiling and celebration of the
work with music and dancing and feasting in front of the house of mbari.

I used the words “stage”
and “auditorium” to describe the mbari
house; let me explain. Indeed, the

two side walls and the
back wall encompassed a stage of sorts, comprising sculptures and paintings as
actors wo, after long rehearsals, are ready to perform a new celebration of
art, a command performance of the earth goddess for the people assembled. But I
believe the event does invite a second way of apprehension, in which the roles
of stage and audience are reversed and those still and silent dignitaries of
molded earth seated on the steps, and the paintings on the walls of the royal pavilion,
became the spectators, and the world below a lively stage.

…….

Mbari extends the view, opens it out to meanings beyond the mere
remembering of blessings or happy events; it deliberately sets out to include
other experiences – indeed, all significant encounters which man has in his
journey through life, especially new, unaccustomed, and thus potentially
threatening encounters.

For example, when
Europe made its appearance in Igbo society out of travellers tales into the
concrete and alarming shape of the domineering district officer, the artists of
mbari quickly gave him a seat among
the molded figures, complete with his peaked helmet and pipe. Sometimes, they
even made room of his iron horse, or bicycle, and his naïve police orderly. To
the Igbo mentality, art must, among other uses, provide a means to domesticate
that which is wild; it must act like the lightning conductor which arrests
destructive electrical potential and channels them harmlessly to earth. The
Ogbo insist that any presence which Is ignored, denigrated, denied
acknowledgement and celebration, can become a focus for anxiety and disruption.
To them, celebration is the acknowledgement, not the welcoming, of a presence.
It is the courtesy of giving to everybody his due.

Therefore the
celebration of mbari was no blind
adoration of a perfect world or even a good world. It was an acknowledgement of
the world as these particular inhabitants perceived it in reality, in their
dreams and their imagination. The white district officer was obviously not a
matter for laughing or dancing. But he was not alone in that. Consider another
disquieting presence: a man whose body was covered from head to toe with the
spots of smallpox, a disease so dreaded that it was deified and was alluded to
only in quiet, deferential tones of appeasement; it was called the Decorator of
its victims, not their killer. As for the woman depicted in copulation with a
dog, was there much to choose, as oddities go, between her and white man?”

Tuesday, 28 January 2014

I calculated all the averages for most tables here. I am pretty sure I understand how averages work less well than anyone reading this blog.

I did not write down the distributions
when I started and now I wish I did. Anyway.

LOTFP standard is (I think) 1d6 per every 10 feet.

Falling
distance in d6

Feet
fallen

Cumulative
dice

Average
Damage

Max

Min

10

D6

3

6

1

20

D6

7

12

2

30

D6

10

18

3

40

D6

14

24

4

50

D6

17

30

5

60

D6

21

36

6

70

D6

24

42

7

80

D6

28

48

8

90

D6

31

54

9

100

D6

35

60

10

Now this has a lot to recommend it. Not least
simplicity. Very little to get wrong here.

But I really really don’t want anyone walking away
from a long fall. The idea of it kind of enrages me.

I could just say ‘roll any doubles and you have a
broken limb.’ Or throw in a table of some kind. But I don’t want any more
tables at this point.

But then a cleric can heal that in one go and the
guy can be up and walking in a minute. It doesn’t satisfy me.

Falling
distance in dice chain

Feet
fallen

Cumulative
Dice

Average
Damage

10

D4

2

20

D6

4-7

30

D8

10

40

D10

15-16

50

D12

22

60

D20

32-33

70

D50

53-63

80

D100

95-122

90

Fuck
it

100

Things
cant get worse

The things I like about the dice chain; It is a
little bit less lethal at smaller heights. You get to keep adding different shaped dice
one by one. There is a nice ritualistic aspect to that. It takes a while but
falling a long way is meant to be bad. It will almost certainly kill
characters after 60 or 70 feet.

Once you bring in the big dice the probability
curve flattens out a lot. High numbers are pretty guaranteed.

Too harsh? Lets try another one.

Falling
distance in dice chain

Feet
fallen

Cumulative
Dice

Average
Damage

10

D4

2

20

D6

4-7

30

D8

10

40

D10

15-16

50

D12

22

60

D20

32-33

70

D20

43

80

D20

53-54

90

D20

64

100

D20

74-75

This is kind of the girlified version of the dice
chain. I quite like this. We can leave in the triples mean limbs snapped rule.

Ok, lets try an insanely swingy method.

Falling
distance in dice chain

Feet
fallen

Dice
rolled

Average
Damage

Max

Min

10

D4

2

4

1

20

D4*D4

4

16

1

30

D4*D6

4
or 6 or 12

24

1

40

D4*D8

4
6 8 12

32

1

50

D4*D10

4
6 8 12

40

1

60

D4*D12

12

48

1

70

D4*D20

12

80

1

80

D4*D50

12
24 36 49

200

1

90

D4*D100

12
24 36 60 72 84

400

1

100

?

?

?

?

Ok, I have no fucking idea what is going on with
this table. It’s all over the place. Averages are pretty low right up until 70
feet. But average means fuck all with this table. Lets try another one.

Falling
distance in dice chain

Feet
fallen

Dice
rolled

Average
Damage

Max

Min

10

D6

1-6

6

1

20

D6*D4

4
6 12

24

1

30

D6*D6

6
12

36

1

40

D6*D8

6
12

48

1

50

D6*D10

6
12

60

1

60

D6*D12

12

72

1

70

D6*D20

12

120

1

80

D6*D50

12
24 30 36 48 60

300

1

90

D6*D100

60

600

1

100

?

?

?

?

I would have to say the d4* version is the most
OSR’y. No-one who falls will have any idea what is going to happen. Neither
will the DM. Maybe the averages don’t need to be that high if the potential is
frightening.

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